Kaleidoscopio is a very promising collaboration between DJ/producer Ramilson Maia and singer, composer, and ballerina Janaíana Lima. Their debut album is a wild scattering of creativity that, although it lacks consistent quality, produces enough gems to make it worthwhile.
The album's first hit, especially in Europe, was "Voce me Apareceu," probably the most clever song on the album in terms of Lima's songwriting. Then came the incredibly catchy "Tem Que Valer." Here the collaboration really flourishes, Maia styling the song exquisitely to bring out the joy in Lima's melody. Her pizzazz, which is on display in abundance in the video (link below) is truly striking.
My next favorite tracks from Kaleidoscopio are "Paro Pra Pensar" and "Meu Sonho," a bright dance-pop nod to the US R&B movement from the early 1990's. The scat singing in "Meu Sonho" is hypnotic, one of those perfect moments from a song that you wish would go on and on.
The biggest indicator of Kaleidoscopio's creative power is their remixes, where the songs take new life and hop from one genre to another. This requires Lima to actually record the vocals separately for each version, with different speed and stylings. The languid bossa version of "Tem Que Valer" stands right up to the musical complexity of the bossa tradition. Again, it's not just a case of an outside DJ speeding up the vocals and adding some beats; it's a creative and thoughtful approach to give one song multiple identities.
Youtube link: Kaleidoscopio - Tem Que Valer (audio quality not great for some reason)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElXSSajwXD0&feature=related
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Soldados de Salamina by Javier Cercas
The standout Spanish novel of the early 2000’s, Soldados de Salamina made fledgling journalist Javier Cercas a mega hit, selling over 1 million copies, a staggering tally for Spain. Soldados is billed as the Civil War-era "relato real" (true story) of Rafael Sanchez Mazas, a founding member of the nationalist Falange, who was set to be executed among other political prisoners by Republican troops fleeing the fall of Barcelona. Sanchez Mazas not only survives the firing squad, but, in the ensuing search for him, is the benefactor of an unbelievable act of decency in the most unlikely setting: an anonymous opposition soldier finds him and lets him go.
In reality, the book is only partially about Sanchez Mazas, as the tale is sandwiched between the author's search for documents and living witnesses to complete the story, on one hand, and his reluctance to come to terms with the facts once they are all present, on the other. The approach has its positives and negatives. The good is that it forces one to admire Cercas's persistence at putting the pieces together through vague memoirs and interviews with very elderly participants. Particularly impressive is the detective work to locate one of the Republican soldiers holding Sanchez Mazas captive, Antoni Miralles.
However, the introduction is a prime example of Cercas's style getting the best of his purpose, as what should be a brief rationale for writing the book becomes a 70-page catalogue of Cercas's problems with his girlfriend, his self-doubt as an author, and what he ordered to drink everytime he interviewed someone for this book. Am I interested? Probably not - and I wish Cercas would curb some of his elongated, elaborately punctuated sentences (a la Jonathan Swift) into more direct phrases.
Still, Cercas does well to find the drama in the story, and the vignettes are touching: Maria Angelats's lifetime correspondence with Sanchez Mazas even though the two never saw each other after a brief encounter in the forest; Miralles's moonlight two-step as he tries to recover, even 40 years later, from so much needless bloodshed.
For me, the story's most moving aspect - illuminated by both Cercas and Miralles - is that the dead live on in the memories of others, until everyone who remembers them also passes. Thus, the elderly shoulder the ever-increasing burden of the memories of their fallen comrades generations before. Many critics have treated the book as a search for heroism (an ironic juxtaposition since Sanchez Mazas is such a coward) but in a country where historical memory is so important, the concept of true death must have resonated as much if not more than the compassion and awareness with which various benefactors acted to save Sanchez Mazas's life.
Soldados de Salamina is published in Spain by Truquets. There is an English translation available in the US.
In reality, the book is only partially about Sanchez Mazas, as the tale is sandwiched between the author's search for documents and living witnesses to complete the story, on one hand, and his reluctance to come to terms with the facts once they are all present, on the other. The approach has its positives and negatives. The good is that it forces one to admire Cercas's persistence at putting the pieces together through vague memoirs and interviews with very elderly participants. Particularly impressive is the detective work to locate one of the Republican soldiers holding Sanchez Mazas captive, Antoni Miralles.
However, the introduction is a prime example of Cercas's style getting the best of his purpose, as what should be a brief rationale for writing the book becomes a 70-page catalogue of Cercas's problems with his girlfriend, his self-doubt as an author, and what he ordered to drink everytime he interviewed someone for this book. Am I interested? Probably not - and I wish Cercas would curb some of his elongated, elaborately punctuated sentences (a la Jonathan Swift) into more direct phrases.
Still, Cercas does well to find the drama in the story, and the vignettes are touching: Maria Angelats's lifetime correspondence with Sanchez Mazas even though the two never saw each other after a brief encounter in the forest; Miralles's moonlight two-step as he tries to recover, even 40 years later, from so much needless bloodshed.
For me, the story's most moving aspect - illuminated by both Cercas and Miralles - is that the dead live on in the memories of others, until everyone who remembers them also passes. Thus, the elderly shoulder the ever-increasing burden of the memories of their fallen comrades generations before. Many critics have treated the book as a search for heroism (an ironic juxtaposition since Sanchez Mazas is such a coward) but in a country where historical memory is so important, the concept of true death must have resonated as much if not more than the compassion and awareness with which various benefactors acted to save Sanchez Mazas's life.
Soldados de Salamina is published in Spain by Truquets. There is an English translation available in the US.
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